Safety group promotes proper use of child seat

Students also were urged not to distract drivers

Jan. 25, 2013

Wayne Shelton, traffic safety specialist of South Jersey Traffic Safety Alliance, is joined by Vineland police officers Fred Demary and John Winquist in a demonstration about energy and force and the importance of buckling up. / Staff photo/Craig Matthews

Second-grade teacher Amanda Beu listens as traffic safety specialist Wayne Shelton talks about safety and buckling up in a vehicle at Sabater Elementary School in Vineland. / Staff photo/Craig Matthews

During a 'Belts on Bones' presentation at Sabater Elementary School in Vineland, Wayne Shelton, a traffic safety specialist with the South Jersey Traffic Safety Alliance, shows second-grader Cartiar Pilot and other students the safe way to buckle up. / Staff photo/Craig Matthews

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VINELAND — Riding in a car can be perilous for first- and second-graders who may be too big for a child seat but too small to be safely restrained by a seat belt.

So Wayne Shelton of the South Jersey Traffic Safety Alliance visited Sabater Elementary School this week to teach the youngsters how to keep themselves safe while on the road.

State law requires restraints and boosters for children riding in vehicles until they are at least 8 years old or weigh 80 pounds.

But, Shelton cautioned, each child and each vehicle is different so one rule may not protect everyone equally.

Asking how many students regularly ride in a car sent the audience hands skyward so Shelton was talking directly to those most at risk.

In a child-friendly “Belts on Bones” program, Shelton showed the students how to correctly wear a seat belt.

Using video and props, Shelton urged the youngsters to adjust the seat belt so the straps rest against their shoulders and hips rather than their vulnerable necks and tummies.

Vineland Police Traffic Safety Officers Fred Demary and John Winquist helped with lesson. Each officer held the end of a seat belt while Shelton used several items to measure the resistance.

A fluffy pillow and a mushy banana yielded to the seat belt, which the students predicted.

But a rawhide bone held firm.

Shelton, a retired New Jersey State Police Trooper, helped the students understand their pelvis and shoulder bones would act like the rawhide should they ever be in crash and properly wearing their seat belts.

Second-grade teacher Amanda Beu volunteered to take the seat belt fit test, settling into a model car seat in front of the students.

“Sit all the way back,” Shelton said, making sure Beu’s knees were properly bent over the edge of the seat.

When a child’s legs don’t bend at 90-degree angle over the seat edge, Shelton said, it is possible for him to slip out of seat belt in the event of a collision.

The belt correctly crossed over Beu’s shoulders and hips.

“Did I pass,” Beu asked the students, who gave her an enthusiastic yes.

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Student Cartiar Pilot then scrambled up into the seat.

But the seat belt didn’t fit well, falling across across his neck, which Cartiar said was uncomfortable.

Shelton added a booster seat to lift Cartiar a few inches higher so the seat belt rested on his shoulder, which he also said was also more comfortable.

The safest place for a child passenger in a car is the back seat, Shelton told the students, urging them to sit there until they are at least 13 years old.

In addition to wearing their seat belts, Shelton urged the students to be good passengers and not distract the drivers in cars or school buses.

Using video, Shelton showed students what happens to unrestrained drivers in a crash. He explained crash test dummies are designed to be the same size and weight as real people.

Watching a crash test dummy slam into the front dashboard from the back seat prompted one young boy to exclaim “Oh, painful!”

When the presentation was complete, Shelton urged students to share the lesson with their parents.

Sabater principal Monica Dannenberger also sent a letter home to parents encouraging them to use booster seats.

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